Lifeline
by kagomeitachi
Summary: Itachi didn't realise that being curious about one Kagome Higurashi would land him in a boatload of trouble. Strangely though he didn't mind.


Disclaimer: I **do not **Inuyasha or Naruto. Otherwise there would have been a character called Kagome Higurashi in Naruto and Itachi would have been married to her already. ;-)

_**CHAPTER 1**_

Bleary obsidian eyes opened slowly encountering only blurred white walls. Squeezing his eyes shut, the raven haired male tried to will his headache to vanish only in vain. Carefully analyzing the room again, he realized that he had landed himself in the Konoha Hospital. He grimaced at the smell of anesthetics. This was one of the many reasons why he was so resolute not sustaining injuries which he himself could not heal. So it was very, very rare when anyone saw him in the hospital. Not that they saw him anywhere else in particular. He hated being predictable. Shisui called him a paranoid not-so-manly person since in his dictionary attaining lifetime scars was something to be proud of for those of masculine nature. He had merely rolled his eyes and scoffed disrespectfully at the idiot.

He slowly tried to flex his limbs, grateful when he found every limb intact. Their mission had gone horribly wrong and he was well aware that he had lost two members in his squad of four. He sighed as disappointment flooded through him. It wasn't that he hadn't lost members before and with this particularly dicey mission everyone was prepared for death as ANBUs always were. But the knowledge hardly consoled him. It was a known fact that ANBU members did not get a burial. If death happened to claim them they had to instantly torch their bodies with the special chakra fuelled fire that was encoded in the tattoo of all ANBUs. After all, the village could never risk losing information from the members of their secretive organization. They might have tombstones in their names though.

Craning his neck towards the window he concluded that it was nighttime. This meant that he had already spent about six hours here. The light knocking on the door diverted his attention to it and he recognized the woman instantly. Kagome Higurashi stood there on the entrance with a smile tugging on her lips. Apparently she was quite amused to see his bandaged form. He could imagine that he probably put mummies to shame right now. Shisui would laugh till next century if he saw him.

The pretty medic strode in his room gracefully and not for the first time he wondered if she had any experience fighting. The sure and sharp strides, the confident way she held herself and eyes ever so …diligent made him wonder if she was really not a warrior. But Tsunade had absolutely banned any team from requesting this medic for any mission due to her proclaimed inability in that area. It was such a waste.

The appearance of this woman in his village was in itself a mystery. All he had learned from the rumors was that she was found heavily injured just outside the village by a team. The rest of the story was a blur but soon she was accepted in the village. In addition it even helped that the Godaime was extremely fond of her and her sweet caring nature attracted people, Nin and civilian alike, like fish to water. Shortly afterwards her great skill in medicine was revealed and the Hokage was more than pleased to let her work in the hospital. It favoured her that her skills easily outmatched the Hokage herself with how she brought a theoretically dead person who had been recently declared dead in the emergency room back to a full energetic man in minutes as if it was merely a cinch. Thinking of which…

"How are you feeling, Uchiha-san?" Kagome asked pleasantly as he tried to push himself up wincing imperceptibly.

"You really shouldn't strain your body. You were in quite a critical condition. " She admonished as she stood near him hands outstretched to aid him if needed but didn't bother helping him sit up. It was probably her way of proving him that he was under no condition of sitting up.

"Maybe you should already heal me since you decided to not heal me till now." His voice slightly accusing due to the sharp jab of his headache and pain of his broken bones.

"Huh?" she answered in a slightly confused voice. "Uchiha-san, my shift only began a few minutes ago. I came here as soon as I healed Shisui- san."

"I see." He answered slowly. Slightly embarrassed at his thoughtless counter he allowed her to look over his injuries, thankful that Shisui was alright. It didn't escaped him that she called Shisui 'Shisui-san' and himself 'Uchiha-san'.

She placed her hands on his chest as her hands glowed blue. He blinked. He had heard of her special 'chakra' and that her healing 'chakra' was blue instead of green. It was his first time personally witnessing and experiencing it though.

"Let's see. You've got four broken ribs, a crack on the skull that has been mostly healed by the medic- in- charge, a few third degree burns, scratches and stab wounds and a ruptured kidney." She raised her bewildered expression to his deadpan one. Shaking her head probably wondering what in god's name he was fighting out there she muttered something that he couldn't quite catch. "You are lucky that Shisui san arrived during Shizune- san and Sakura's shift, you know. Anyway," she took a deep breath, "let's start, shall we? I want you to breath deep and slow now, Uchiha-san." Kagome requested as she closed her eyes.

He obeyed and almost instantly he felt like a cool stream of her unique 'chakra' flowing through him to his arteries and veinlets and he could feel it running through his marrow repairing any damage it touched instantly. He could feel himself relaxing as time passed, his headache vanishing instantly as her chakra flowed up.

And before he knew it he was completely _**healed.**_ There wasn't even the minutest pain in his body. He was in awe. Not that he showed it facially.

"Thank you." He said gratefully.

"Sure, though I suggest you stay for at least a day."She smiled amiably.

Itachi was not amused. "That is not necessary, Higurashi-san. Since I am already healed, I am sure I can take care of myself now."

"That isn't negotiable, Uchiha-san. Besides your family would be visiting you tomorrow. Furthermore-"she said as she brought her forefinger up before he could interrupt, "If you want to send your mission report, I would be happy to tell you that Tsunade- sama is already aware of your situation and wouldn't mind waiting." She finished with a deceptibly saccharine sweet voice.

Itachi observed the woman with a critical eyes belatedly realizing that he had been robbed off all his excuses. She must be already used to shinobi and their natural aversion to hospitals. He absently noted the streaks of grey in those startlingly blue eyes. She started removing his bandages: her pale complexion with his slightly tanned skin made his stomach flutter with…something. He frowned. The sensation wasn't bad but slightly distracting.

Kagome tried not to twitch under the watchful gaze of the Uchiha heir. She had to admit that the man was, well, _**beautiful**_. Though she had to admit that she had seen her share of beautiful men. She really couldn't understand why these ninjas always hated hospitals. Shisui-san wasn't this unwilling. Well, he was actually a bit too friendly, she thought, as she remembered him groping her.

Itachi nodded imperceptibly. He watched as she checked a few things and then sauntered out of the room. Soon enough he realized his curiosity towards the woman. She wasn't of this village and no one knew of her birthplace only vaguely aware that it was somewhere far away. But she bonded with the people quite easily. And the way she easily thwarted his escape instead of swooning at him like a few (most) of the woman population spoke of her professionalism. He was rarely took curiosity in women, but he supposed he could indulge himself sometimes.

"Hellooow, little cuz. How are ya? I just saw that pretty Kagome-chan was in your room. She's so gorgeous. And those boobs!-"

Itachi's left eyebrow twitched. He could already feel a headache there. "Shisui, shut up."

Apparently, the devil was awake and running. Preferring to kill calories by torturing him. Itachi glared at the fool.

Tsunade gritted her teeth as she got her report from the Uchiha heir. The man was kept in the hospital for almost a day but she didn't mind the late report. It was better than compromising one of her best shinobis. But the mission report in itself was a headache. Massive dead of citizens just outside Fire Country was what had worried her in the first place to send out her best ANBU team to scout the outskirts. Seeing the way they had come back, the situation seemed to be more serious.

"So, you are saying that their life source was just sucked away?" Tsunade questioned the ANBU captain as she finished reading his report.

"Not exactly, Hokage-sama. It would be more accurate to say that almost everything ranging from bones, muscles, blood to every other internal organ was sucked out. Or should I say, they had merely vanished." Itachi answered in a nonchalant voice. But he was more willing to say that it was sucked out considering the horror in their faces.

Tsunade frowned. "Did your team intercept with the culprit?"

"Probably, considering that they didn't want us to move forward with the trail that we found. Or they wanted to challenge us, which is more probable since they stayed there to attack us. But I don't think we fought the whole group. " Itachi answered.

Tsunade nodded stiffly. The team had fought five of them wielding strange Kekkei Genkai that had been unheard of. She watched the Uchiha carefully. "Do you think that the Akatsuki had a hand in this?"

Itachi blinked. "I don't think so. They weren't wearing the Akatsuki emblem though I know that it's hardly a reason to throw them out of the equation, but they seem to be a group who liked working as discreetly as possible and they seem quite proud of their symbol."

Tsunade felt like groaning out loud. With the increasing problems with Iwa and the ever so present threat of the Akatsuki, now, they had another enemy. Great.

She dismissed the captain as she took large gulps of sake right from the bottle. Maybe it was time she asked Kagome to help.

**Answers to a few questions that readers might have:**

Kagome is NOT from another world in this fic. She's born in the Naruto world naturally. Things would get clearer as the story progresses.

Itachi has not gone through the massacre and thus has his previous warm and gentle attitude but still a bit of a colder personality that he adopted after joining ANBU in the anime. At the moment he doesnot have the Mangekyo Sharingan as he didn't kill Shisui.

Shisui has the Mangekyo because in the manga and anime he clearly had it before Itachi probably by killing someone close to him inadvertently or in a mission where he didn't have any other choice than to kill the friend.

I suppose those should be the only doubts. Other things will get clearer later.

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Well, I have started on a new story. Please be kind and review!

itachixkagome


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